Frank Lucas (Oklahoma)

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Frank Lucas
Chairperson of the House Agriculture Committee
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 3, 2011
Preceded by Collin Peterson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Oklahoma's 3rd district
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 3, 2003
Preceded by Wes Watkins
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Oklahoma's 6th district
In office
May 10, 1994 – January 3, 2003
Preceded by Glenn English
Succeeded by Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born Frank Dean Lucas
(1960-01-06) January 6, 1960
Cheyenne, Oklahoma, U.S.
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Lynda Lucas
Alma mater Oklahoma State University
Religion Southern Baptist

Frank Dean Lucas (born January 6, 1960) is the U.S. Representative for Oklahoma's 3rd congressional district, serving since 2003, having previously represented the 6th district, from 1994 to 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party and chairs the House Committee on Agriculture. His district, numbered as the 6th district from 1994 to 2003, is the largest congressional district in the state and one of the largest in the nation that doesn't cover an entire state. It covers an area of 34,088.49 square miles and stretches from the Panhandle to the fringes of the Tulsa suburbs—almost half of the state's land mass.

Early life, education and career

Lucas is from Cheyenne, a town in western Oklahoma. He graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1982 with a degree in agricultural economics.

He first ran for the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 1984, narrowly losing. A second attempt in 1986 also fell short, but he won the seat in 1988.

Committee assignments

Political campaigns

Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas speaks at a town hall meeting held in the Pioneer Technology Center in Ponca City, Oklahoma on September 26, 2011.

In 1994, 6th district Congressman Glenn English stepped down to become a lobbyist for rural electric cooperatives. Lucas won the Republican nomination for the special election on May 10. He faced Dan Webber, press secretary to former Governor and U.S. Senator David L. Boren, now president of the University of Oklahoma. The 6th was already the largest in the state, stretching from the Panhandle to the town of Spencer, in the far northeastern Oklahoma City metropolitan area. However, the state legislature had redrawn it so that it included many poor Oklahoma City neighborhoods that had never voted Republican. Lucas scored a major upset; he won by eight percentage points, carrying 18 of the district's 24 counties. His victory has been seen by some pundits as an early sign of the wave six months later that saw the Republicans take control of the House for the first time in 40 years. Lucas himself won a full term in that wave and has been re-elected seven times, never dropping below 59 percent of the vote, and even ran unopposed in 2002 and 2004.

Lucas' district was renumbered as the 3rd after Oklahoma lost a district in the 2000 Census. His district, already by far the largest in the state, was made even larger. He lost most of his old district's share of Oklahoma City, which was home to 60 percent of the district's population. He once represented much of the downtown area, including the site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. He still represents that portion of the city located in Canadian County. To make up for this large population loss, the 3rd was pushed further to the east, picking up part of the Tulsa area (including a small portion of Tulsa itself) and some rural areas. As a result, his district now includes 48.5 percent of the state's land mass, and is large as the state's other four districts combined.

Electoral history

Oklahoma's 6th congressional district: Results 1992–2000[1]
Year Democrat Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct
1992 Glenn English * 134,734 68% Bob Anthony 64,068 32%
1994 Jeffrey S. Tollett 45,399 30% Frank D. Lucas 106,961 70%
1996 Paul M. Barby 64,173 36% Frank D. Lucas 113,499 64%
1998 Paul M. Barby 43,555 33% Frank D. Lucas 85,261 65% Ralph B. Finkle, Jr. Independent 2,455 2%
2000 Randy Beutler 63,106 39% Frank D. Lucas 95,635 59% Joseph V. Cristiano Libertarian 2,435 2%
* English resigned mid-term, and Lucas won the special election to succeed him against Democratic opponent Dan Webber.
Oklahoma's 3rd congressional district: Results 2002–2010[1]
Year Democrat Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct
2002 (no candidate) Frank D. Lucas 148,206 76% Robert T. Murphy Independent 47,884 24%
2004 (no candidate) Frank D. Lucas 215,510 82% Gregory M. Wilson Independent 46,621 18%
2006 Sue Barton 61,749 33% Frank D. Lucas 128,042 67%
2008 Frankie Robbins 62,297 24% Frank D. Lucas 184,306 70% Forrest Michael Independent 17,756 7%
2010 Frankie Robbins 45,684 22% Frank D. Lucas 161,915 78%

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Election Statistics". Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. Retrieved 2008-01-10. 

External links

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Glenn English		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Oklahoma's 6th congressional district
1994–2003 		Constituency abolished
Preceded by
Wes Watkins		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Oklahoma's 3rd congressional district
2003–present 		Incumbent
Preceded by
Collin Peterson		 Chairperson of the House Agriculture Committee
2011–present 		Incumbent
United States order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by
Sam Farr		 United States Representatives by seniority
74th 		Succeeded by
Lloyd Doggett
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Other states'
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